Swanage Railway General Discussion

Sorry to hear you can no longer work the box or do other safety critical work.

 

Thanks Robin for all your hard work helping to achieve this!

Could the railway now in theory ask for gift aid on ticket sales or is there still more work to do in that department?


With the new Incorporated Charity (IC) is the swanage railway trust also being removed? So both the trust and existing company effectively all going into this new charity ?

 

The answer is yes and err no. Depends on which ticket type I believe.

 

Kind of you to say but this has very much been a team effort with many folk contributing.

Gift Aid - Yes, that’s very much part of the plan and should be in place shortly.

The intention is now to shut down the existing Trust and to have one single charitable body. There are some complexities in doing that and members and supporters of the Railway will be kept fully informed of the steps along the way over the coming months.

Robin

 

Its a great personal loss. I have a serious health condition and am still here because of our wonderful National Health Service - and an unpleasant drug regime. But I'm still here and will be for some time to come it seems, which is better than the alternative. I can get about fine but have to stroll rather than run and steep steps are a challenge, which makes signal boxes and token delivery problematical. The Swanage offered for me to continue with a 'runner' but I would never want to do 80% of a job. I especially miss late turns at Swanage for the diesel and steam Galas.

I learned my signaling in busy signal boxes on the Waterloo Area and in Kent from signalmen who, in some cases joined the big railway after national service and themselves learned from Victorians. I always loved a day when there was not much opportunity to sit down and it was a point of honour to have the signal 'off' before the driver looked for it. I have been privileged to work over 150 signal boxes here and there. My first in London was Motspur Park and I would have to identify Clapham and Waterloo as highlights. Signalmen at Eastbourne and the Bristol Area boxes and panels indulged their Traffic Manager's addiction to pulling levers and pushing buttons. I would have liked to pass on something of what I learned and how to play a busy box like a piano.

But all good things have to come to an end and I'm pleased that even after my disgusting treatment by the West Somerset Railway's appalling senior management, and the useless response to that by the Heritage Railway Association, I have been able to make a contribution here and there to the railway heritage movement which I have served for nearly 50 years now and continue so to do. My phone rings most weeks with a request for assistance from one railway or another.